And as for Bao Yixin, Tang Yuanting is so far her best partner but nobody knows whether she will come back to play or not. I don't think Bao Yixin is in the plan for Tokyo TBH. She will be important for Sudirman Cup in 2017 and Uber Cup in 2018. And I won't be surprised if she retires after Uber Cup
I beg to differ, I think Zhang Nan at age 26 is at the height of his powers, how can we not expect him to play a leading role in Team CHN for XD and possibly MD ? But, of course, he won't be alone even after finding the right partners for the two disciplines for the CHN young guns are coming up strongly, esp in XD, to reinforce him as the mainstays. I know it's too early to talk about Tokyo 2020 but I somehow strongly feel that Zhang Nan will figure as one of Team CHN's best prospects for XD, if not MD as well, short of unforeseen circumstances as four years is a long time in badminton terms, a lot of things can happen.
ZN has never been the leading player despite his success with Zhao Yunlei and FHF. Someone even said that he won so much trophies because he has chosen the best as his partner. Personally I regard him as a very good player and I really want him to win more big trophies to prove that he can keep winning without ZYL or FHF. However,the problem is, CBA will focus more on younger players and ZN will quite possibly become the plan B to coaches
I view ZN as the star player of the CBA now. The best player in 2 categories. If they can find a good partner for him (maybe ZSW in MD and BYX in WD), he can still be a dominant player for years.
Fu Haifeng is reported to have said he's very lucky to have Zhang Nan to extend his career post-LOG'12 after splitting with Cai Yun and it even enabled him to go to Rio'16 winning another precious gold in his twilight years. I believe Zhao Yunlei throughout most of her career is just as grateful to have Zhang Nan. I believe the appreciation and gratitude as well as the admiration is mutual in both cases.
I'm inclined to agree with you. Zhang Nan still have many good years ahead to embellish his already highly-decorated resume.
Glad to see the CHN young echelon coming up strong at both the senior and junior levels. Who would've thought it'd be the CHN youngsters to fuel the regeneration and renewal process of Chinese badminton so quickly after the recent years of uneven, sometimes lackluster, overall performance, culminating in the Rio'16 near debacle followed the abrupt departure and retirements of many of their elite players and pairs. Li Yongbo must be the happiest man in CBA. About one,two years ago he said he would pay more attention on the development of the juniors and it has now paid dividends. The rise of the younger cohort and juniors at just the right time bodes well for Chinese badminton going forward. For Li Yongbo,personally, embattled after Team CHN's Rio'16 disappointment and embarrassment, his position as Head Coach is safe at least for the next four years until Tokyo 2020. Still, some of us will like to see CBA send more of their juniors to the lower tier BWF tournaments to gain exposure and experience as much as possible.
Li and Liu seem to have great potential to be the next top MD-pair for China. Just not sure if they have enough charisma to get the same fanbase as FHF&CY or FHF&ZN had. Li and Liu look like roboters to me. Faces expressing nothing. Maybe they only know badminton and nothing else - kinda like badminton machines
http://sports.qq.com/a/20161120/018335.htm Just briefly, the main points of what Li Yongbo commented: 1) After the retirements of Zhao Yunlei, Wang Yihan, Wang Shixian, Tian Qing, Ma Jin , and Yu Yang, Fu Haifeng will also be retiring (and of course, Wang Zhengming whom he forgot to mention); 2) Li Yongbo revealed that during the pre-Rio Olympic closed-door systematic training, Shi Yuqi already demonstrated he could beat Lin Dan a few times, likewise Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan beat Tang Yuanting/ Yu Yang, and Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen defeated Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei which partly explains why post-Rio some of these older athletes chose retirement knowing they couldn't cope with the younger teammates as well as give these youngsters more opportunities; 3) Though the younger cohort have performed remarkably in recent tournaments , it cannot be regarded as extremely good, somewhat accidental in their achievements,and he is of the opinion that they are still relatively young, short of experience, not at all stable, and still needs time to mature; 4) Among the young batch of MS, he spoke approvingly of Qiao Bin, Tian Houwei, Shi Yuqi, Guo Kai, and Xue Song , but singled out Shi Yuqi as the most outstanding, a future top player; 5) On Chen Long, LYB revealed he will carry on till Tokyo 2020 Olympics, adding recently after taking a post-OG break , Chen Long has resumed training, He also said Chen Long is rather reserved by nature, very ambitious in his profession, and in order to better train and prepare himself, he has decided to skip the following Hong Kong Open and the year-end Dubai Superseries Finals so as to come back stronger and in better form next year. (He also touched on how hard it is nowadays to become a coach for those who might be interested though so far among the retired none have expressed interest as the requirements are more stringent, etc, which I shan't go into).
He said during training/sparring before the Rio Olympics, and, remember, Lin Dan also lost to somebody else ( was it Tian Houwei?). I mean, don't expect LD to take it too seriously, probably just to practise some of his shots though, for sure, the youngsters were certainly keen to beat him.
How far do you think Tian Houwei can go? Obviously Shi Yuqi and Qiao Bin are dangerous to him but I've always thought he was a really talented player and he's taken a game off of Jan Jorgensen a couple of times recently.
I don't see why CL, still so young, at the peak of his form, should "take a break". This portraits him not as a "very ambitious" player, but more of a "try to impress others", i.e. work hard to give satisfactions to other people, and not for himself. It will be difficult, in those conditions, to push up to Tokyo. Tian Houwei is not a new player, he has been around on the circuit for some years now. I think we have seen his full potential, not bad, but not a top-notch either.
Everybody needs a break, full-time employees relish their annual vacation, professional athletes are no exception. I even know of some people who after working for several years decided to take a long career break up to a year to do what they are really passionate about or have been wanting to do but not been able to, such as travel round the world, social work or volunteering, raise a family and spend quality time with them, go back to school full-time. For Chen Long, I see it as a good thing, he's just reached the pinnacle of his career winning an Olympic gold , two world championships and a whole host of titles. He is taking a much-needed and well-deserved break to recharge and rejuvenate himself, the better to scale greater heights in future. It goes to show, badminton is his life but his life isn't only badminton, more balanced, healthy and complete. Furthermore, it's time he settles down with his beloved Wang Shixian, for marital bliss is a great motivator in one's life and career. Li Xuerui never took a break, she is very ambitious but also gives herself too much pressure, live and breathe badminton, outside of which she only wants to eat and sleep as she put it once when asked about her daily routine and and other interests, hobbies and pastimes. Maybe because she is still relatively young, attain her first major achievement in Olympic gold at age 21, becoming world number one and acquiring a host of prestigious titles , including the team championships, but failed at the world championships and another Olympics since then. All the more I feel she must develop other meaningful interests and widen her life's experience outside badminton to balance and complement her being so as to lead a (spiritually) richer, happier and fuller life. And with that, I believe, she will accomplish even more and scale greater heights in badminton.
Justin two questions for you if I may : (a)what happened to Lin Guipu?, (b) There are 5 Chinese players in the Scottish Open which is taking place Wednesday and they are going to the Welsh Open too!! A change in coaching stance by CBA?
(A) Somebody said Lin Guipu is injured, lower back problem. (B) No idea, all unknown names, certainly not in the CHN National 2nd Team, must be from a certain province. Hopefully, one or two players perform well and catches Li Yongbo's attention and be invited to the National Team for a Selection Exercise to see if they are god enough to join the 2nd Team. I understand this is not the first time the provinces are taking turns to send some of their players to participate in international tier 3 and below tournaments.
